Ey aca ro 
matters to be considered. It was no use trying to irrigate hillsides. The 
expense of maintaining the channels, &c., was so great that it was not repaid 
by the results. Let them imagine an attempt to irrigate a hillside. The head 
ditch has to be brought to the top of the orchard, and then contour lines have 
to be taken across it. Each tree has to be ringed—that is, a circular ditch put 
round it—and this was not satisfactory, as it confines the roots of the trees to 
one portion of the land. Taking also into consideration the extra difficulty — 
of keeping up the ditches on hillsides, it would be seen that the soils most 
suitable for irrigation were those that were level, or with only sufficient — 
fall to get rid of the superfluous water. Irrigation was useful for 
fruit trees and also for growing cane or corn in the dry districts of the 
colony. It was very desirable that our stock-raisers and farmers should | 
bein a position in the future to produce fodder sufficient to allow of some 
being carried over for dry seasons, and he believed that, with our artesian water 
supplies, it was possible to produce in the deep sandy loams.of the West of 
Queensland, first-class crops of corn, lucerne, &e., which it is extremely difficult 
to do in the natural state of the land. These crops could be saved until such 
times as they were required, and with this reserve supply of fodder, the squatter, 
in times of great scarcity of feed, would always be able to save the best of his 
stock. ‘The best way to apply water to land thatwas level,and which wasintended 
for such crops as corn, sorghum, cane, or fruit trees, was by means of furrows 
drawn by a plough. <A. plough in this case is preferable to a Planet junr. 
cultivator. ‘urn the water into the furrows from the head channels, but only 
let it iravel along the furrows just as fast as the soil can take itup. A rush of 
water is not necessary, and if it is found that the water is travelling too fast, ‘ 
aman should stop it by throwing up checks in the furrows. The water, of 
course, should be led all over the field. There were other matters in irrigation 
which had to be watched, even on the most suitable land. In very hot weather, 
if water was poured on to the surface of the ground during the time the sun is — 
at its strongest, and the water came in contact with the roots of trees or plants 
on the land, it would inall probability seriously injure them. Night, naturally, 
was the best time to apply the water. Again, the best results were got 
by irrigation and cultivation combined. As soon as the land would carry a 
horse and cultivator after the application of the water, the Planet junr. 
cultivator or some other similar implement should be called into requisition, and — 
the breaking up of the furrows proceeded with. When the water had been put _ 
on the land, the next step was to keep it there, and this was accomplished - 
by a thorough system of cultivation, stirring the soil. but not turning it. 
Another point was the necessity of taking care that the watering did not | 
produce a “pan” in the soil. At Mildura it had been found, and also at other 
places, that after land had been constantly irrigated a “hard pan” formed in 
the soil at a distance of from 1 foot to 8 or 10 inches from the surface. If this 
was allowed io remain, the water got down as far as this pan, stopped there, 
and turned sour, with the result that all plant growth was stopped. It was 
therefore necessary to have a subsoil attachment to the plough used in working _ 
such land, in order that the pan could be broken up. saaeick 
In addition to irrigating by means of furrows, there is another method of 
irrigation that is frequently used in connection with the cultivation of lucerne, 
but it is only of value on level, or nearly level, country that has a deep free 
loam or sandy loamy soil. This is irrigating by means of checks, which is 
carried out as follows :—Iirst, the land is levelled as evenly as possible with a 
rader ; it is then cut up into blocks of any desired size, but the fallin the land 
in any one block should not exceed 6 inches. Checks or mounds of earth are 
next thrown up round each block with the grader, the water being brought on 
to each block by means of a head ditch running at the highest side of each. 
The water is turned on to each block in turn, and is allowed to run till the 
whole block is flooded and the lucerne has received a thorough soaking, when it 
___is turned on to the next block. The levelling of the ground and the formation 
of the checks is ot atall adifficult matter, all that is required being a good steady, 
